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[Redwing]

I have put the caution in the title as this post may upset some people, do not read on if you feel you may be upset.

 

I culled our second table bird today and thought I would share my findings of the whole table bird experience so far

 

All of my birds intended for meat were bought as bred especially for eating, some quick growing and some slower growing but still fast compared to a normal chicken

 

I culled the first one at a reasonably young age so it still had lots of soft feather which was a pain to pluck so don't cull them too young!

 

The one culled today was a large cockerel who was less than four months old but simply enormous

 

I sadly had to cull my beautiful hybrid layer Twinkle a few weeks back as she was ill and I couldnt face tackling my big table cockerel at the time (which is when he should have gone) so culled him today but he was very big, he has been wheezing horribly for the last few days and was very overweight, table birds arent meant to live a long life so cull after the fluffy feathers and before they get so big their wellbeing is affected

 

I didn't handle my birds after they were 7 weeks old apart from to pin one of them down from time to time to do a brief health check. On catching the cockerel today I found him to be extremely stressed as he was not used to being handled, he escaped from me and ran round until I caught him again and having to cull him after a chase when he and I were both stressed was terribly upsetting I felt I had given him a lovely life only to stress him out at the end of it and that I had really let him down I really wish I had handled them more and will try to redress this with the remaining three - The lesson? there is a good place between between getting too attached and not having much contact at all

 

I also got too many chicks (5) at the same time and haven't culled at even intervals so one of the girls has now started to lay eggs which not only makes me feel guilty for wanting to cull them but will make the gutting a lot worse as there will be eggs in the system I definitely need to timetable this better

 

The amount of food they eat is incredible! thus they produce a lot of poo so smell much more than the laying hens

 

Gutting has been fine, I do not withdraw food as it makes it easier to find the crop however there is a bit of a poop issue

 

The culling itself has been fine but hold them tight until the muscle reactions (that happen completely normally after the bird is dead) have stopped as one of mine broke a wing because I was not holding it tightly (obviously it had gone by then and didn't feel a thing but I still felt bad when I heard it break )

 

Sorry for the ramble of unconnected thoughts but I thought it might be of some help to hear my mistakes so far

[Lesley]

Oh! I so agree about having too many at a time!!! We had 20 last time.......and that is why we haven't had any since! We planned to despatch 4 at a time, fairly early on, and see if we could do batches of 20 about three times a year. We can't.........

 

We had a problem with time.......never enough of it - and so ours were left until they were fairly old......and were laying

 

I've had a problem with a trapped nerve (I think) in my elbow ever since I had to pluck the turkeys a couple of years ago and plucking the chickens made it worse.

 

Please don't feel you let your cockerel down - even having to catch him before despatch would have afforded him a lovely lifestyle and a quick end compared to the life - or non life - which he could have had.

[Egluntyne]

That is a really interesting read, Redwing.

 

Thanks for sharing it....some very useful tips.

[moochoo]

Thanks for commenting on your experiences. It really does resonate with me. Ours are 12 weeks old now and one of the boys is massive already. I don't think it will be far off the 15 weeks when we dispatch him as he's already struggling with the heat.

I've started taking them out of the eglu at night for a quick once over and they are starting to get used to being handled. I don't feel any closer to them for doing this.

We have also delayed getting any more chicks as yet. I was concerned that the smaller 2 would not be ready for dispatch when the next batch needed to go outside.

I'm really glad that you've covered these issues. It makes me more confident with what I've decided.

[Jules.]

Good post.

 

All my light sussex chicks are very nervous Alexander can catch them ( he's good at that!) & after reading your post I am going to handle them every night time from now on, I'll get them out through the eggport when they have gone to roost so that they will be calmer. I have no idea yet when I will cull the 3 boys, as I don't know when they will crow, & I have decided to do all 3 at once.

I shall have call on Poachedegg & my friend B to help me with the killing & plucking, & Alexander has helped us pluck once before so he will be roped in to help too.

 

They are really big now, but not big enough for eating

[Snowy]

I agree, thank you for posting about your experiences Tasha. This is still something I want to do one day, and this all helps towards the planning of it. And as Lesley said, don't feel bad - your cockerel had a very papmpered life compared to the majority of table birds. (((hugs)))

[WitchHazel]

Good post, thank you Redwing.

 

We had 23 meat birds, we culled the first two a week ago. We;ve previously killed a bird each on one of Alison's courses.

 

They haven't been handled, and I advised DH and his friend to cull at night, as the birds would be less stressed. They didn't listen, and decided to cull first thing in the morning.

 

The downside was that they had to catch the bird, but they hadn't been let out (they live in a converted shed), so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

 

The upside was that most of the food had passed through the system during the night, so gutting was relatively clean (we had previously gutted 2 birds which had eaten, and it wasn't pleasant).

 

Friend managed to get them plucked at a local farm using an automatic plucker. I was horrified when I heard this was the plan. Still, it's good to try things once. The plucker did a reasonable job (it was a large commercial one, not one of the cheaper ones) but there was still some stubble and the skin had been torn in a couple of places. My main objection was very girly though, I felt it was disrespectful to the birds (sorry if that sounds a bit daft).

 

We had some discussion around how long to keep the bird between plucking and gutting. Previously we kept the bird 3 days, which is the norm, but we found the smell was a bit gamey for us. This time we kept the bird, in the salad box in the fridge, for 24 hours. It was much better. We might try 36 hours next time as the longer you keep the bird before gutting, ,the better the texture (appaarently). I know you're supposed to hang the birds up, but we jjust don't have the facilities for that.

 

 

I found it easier to do this bird because he didn't smell so much, and because I wasn't worried about the smell, I enjoyed the taste more.

 

I found that I was determined to use every bit of chicken meat this time, as it was my own bird and I felt important to me that his life should not have been taken just to end up in my bin. Of course I made stock, but I always make stock.

 

 

I had ordered a tripod despatcher (which uses neck dislocation not crushing, and is therefore very humane) but they aren't stock items and are made to order. It didn't arrive in time, but it should be here this week in time for us to dispatch the next 6 birds.

 

We're planning to do 6 birds this week (that's 3 for us and three for the other chap). We've agreed we'll pluck our 3 by hand (not sure what OC will be doing).

 

Once we've culled all our birds we're going to clear the ground and start again, but we're going to raise our own purebreeds and see how that goes. It'll be better because the birds will have a longer life before being culled, and hopefully they will be more active than ourmeat birds are; it'll be harder because pure breeds are just stunning.

 

I'm really glad I took this step, and we're going to continue. If the other chap decides he doesn't want to carry on (his DW won't eat the birds he's raised himself!) then we'll do it on a much smaller scale in our garden somehow.

 

For myself, I strongly believe that if I can't do this, then the only alternative for me is to stop eating chicken (and probably all meat), and I'd find that hard as I'm a real carnivore.

[Lesley]

We use the tripod cone despatcher Hazel - PM if you wan't t o discuss it.

[WitchHazel]

We use the tripod cone despatcher Hazel - PM if you wan't t o discuss it.

Thanks Lesley - it was because of your recommendation that I bought it,

[The Dogmother]

Good call to post Tasha.

 

I'm sorry that it didn't go to plan, but it's part of the learning curve.

 

Well done for following your convictions.

[Griffin]

A very good post. My three boys are 16 weeks old (1 Light Sussex & 2 Leghorns) and still *touch wood* not crowing. They are used to being handled, they get a cuddle every night because they insist on trying to roost on the roof of the coop and I have to pick them up to shove them inside They're frightened of the girls, they are such wimps and not at all manly yet. It was important to me that they received just as much love as the other girls. We weren't going to name them because we wanted to keep a distance but it hasn't mattered, they got names eventually and my need for a roast dinner has so far out-weighed any affection I have for them.

 

My only concern so far is that because they're free ranging and being treated the same as everyone else they've not gained as much weight as I would like. The LS in particular is a massive bird but has virtually no breast meat. I've just changed the food from layers pellets to a mixture of wheat, maize and rolled barley with a dollop of cod liver oil. I wanted to try a more natural diet to see if it helped Valeries laying problems plus I hope it'll make a difference to the taste of the meat.

[Lesley]

I've just changed the food from layers pellets to a mixture of wheat, maize and rolled barley with a dollop of cod liver oil. I wanted to try a more natural diet to see if it helped Valeries laying problems plus I hope it'll make a difference to the taste of the meat.

 

Do you think the cod liver oil might taint the meat?

[Griffin]

It's such a small amount, 1 tablespoon between enough feed for around 20 chooks. I doubt it'll make much of a difference. We'll soon find out It's only day 2 of their new diet.

[laurmurf]

Hi Redwing - thanks for this post, I think it's so helpful to have the true story, particularly as it's just this sort of extra information that wasn't, and wouldn't have been, covered on Alison's course.

[Lesley]

It's such a small amount, 1 tablespoon between enough feed for around 20 chooks. I doubt it'll make much of a difference. We'll soon find out It's only day 2 of their new diet.

 

I ask because the final straw that tipped me over to becoming vegetarian in 1980 was some bacon from M&S that tasted of fish It was when pigs could be fed fish meal and the bacon was disgusting. Of course.......the pigs were fed a lot of fish meal and your hens have only a small amount of cod liver oil so it should be fine.

 

From the age of about 10 weeks we feed our table birds with half pellets and half mixed corn on an ad-lib basis, and plenty of greens/grass. Lovely yellow skin and flesh with a superb flavour.

[The Dogmother]

Lesley's meat birds certainly do taste divine, and are lovely and moist too.

[TheGirlsMum]

Thank you for the post.

 

We raised 6 eating birds that went to stay at a friends barn, we have dispatched 3 of them, the dispatching was not the problem but the amount of time it took to pluck by hand, fortunately my friend helped but the 3rd bird had cooled by the time we got round to it so was harder to pluck. We are now met with the dilemma of when OH has time to dispatch I don't have time to pluck all three so these birds have been handed over to the friend whose barn they lived in.

 

We now have 6 Light Sussex at home and as luck would have it its most likely that 4 of them are boys, but as they are at home dispatching will be easier and will be done one at a time hope they don't all start crowing on the same day They are 12 weeks old.

[moochoo]

We were tought on the dispatch course to dispatch each hen and the pluck it before proceding with dispatching another. You don't have the problem with them cooling down too much to pluck.

My big cockeral has started his pre-crowing coughs this morning....won't be too long now

[The Dogmother]

Better get your broom handle ready then Sarah!

[TAJ]

We spread out the culling - no more than two in a weekend. We had no catching issue. Each time we shut the eglu door at night and in the morning we caught them through the egg port - if it was a lighter hen we picked out we just put it back in the eglu run until we grabbed the one we wanted.

 

They were all very calm at dispatch - it was just OH who was stressed out doing it. We still have three in the freezer from our two winter batches.

 

Tracy

[missuscluck]

Good post. Its no easy ride is it and not something to be entered into lightly.

Its good to post a truthful account of your experiance. We had 20 chicks in one go once and boy did they stink. I had to clean them out every other day.

However I learnt LOTS.

[Lewis]

I've had a problem with a trapped nerve (I think) in my elbow ever since I had to pluck the turkeys a couple of years ago and plucking the chickens made it worse.

Let me know if you ever need a hand plucking them

Would be good to see how others dipatch and pluck, and I get to see the farm

 

(I'll have to come to the farmers market one Saturday in the summer )

[Lesley]

I've had a problem with a trapped nerve (I think) in my elbow ever since I had to pluck the turkeys a couple of years ago and plucking the chickens made it worse.

Let me know if you ever need a hand plucking them

Would be good to see how others dipatch and pluck, and I get to see the farm

 

(I'll have to come to the farmers market one Saturday in the summer )

 

 

or should that be...

 

 

wanders off to see if she can find some table birds..........

[The Dogmother]

It would be lovely to see you there Lewis.

 

A friend with a smallholding bought 24 table chicks at the weekend. We talked about planning despatching - I think her whole family will be roped in to help!

[mostin]

Thanks for posting Redwing, it was brave and honest of you to tell us all of your experiences with your 1st lot of meat birds. It is a steep learning curve obviously, even after attending the course.